Satire and snark the article may be. However I'll be cheering when it happens for real as it'll mean our cost to orbit has fallen so far through the floor that their is now regular freight being carried between a much much large space station (where people live and work, not just specialists in the field) and sufficient people in orbit (and freight costs so low) for them to be profitable.

FARK rebel soldier:Seriously though I've heard lift costs are always going to be so high we'll never really live in space. :-(

It depends. A lot of the cost predictions make assumptions about technological progress. As an example: there will never be a SSTO space plane. We'll always be using expensive rockets. And so on and so forth.

Now I admit that the engineering and metallurgical knowledge to so something 'scifi' like a space elevator is a hell of a long way off (ignoring the fact such a hyper-structure would span national boundaries and you've politics to worry about) but private companies such as Space X have already brought the cost to orbit under predictions that were written off as fanciful only a decade ago and they're working hard to bring it down further.

And a few companies are looking at the old SSTO concepts with a more modern eye as well, NASA's scramjet stuff (if it ever works properly) would be quite useful that such a beast.

Vaneshi:FARK rebel soldier: Seriously though I've heard lift costs are always going to be so high we'll never really live in space. :-(

It depends. A lot of the cost predictions make assumptions about technological progress. As an example: there will never be a SSTO space plane. We'll always be using expensive rockets. And so on and so forth.

Now I admit that the engineering and metallurgical knowledge to so something 'scifi' like a space elevator is a hell of a long way off (ignoring the fact such a hyper-structure would span national boundaries and you've politics to worry about) but private companies such as Space X have already brought the cost to orbit under predictions that were written off as fanciful only a decade ago and they're working hard to bring it down further.

And a few companies are looking at the old SSTO concepts with a more modern eye as well, NASA's scramjet stuff (if it ever works properly) would be quite useful that such a beast.

We're not too far off. 3-D printing, teleoperation, hydroponics -- now just get a big chunk of regolith from the moon or a near-earth asteroid for resources, and away you go. I want an automated solar-cell factory on the moon to set up a linear accelerator - then we can get aluminum, iron, and oxygen anywhere we want it.

FrancoFile:We're not too far off. 3-D printing, teleoperation, hydroponics -- now just get a big chunk of regolith from the moon or a near-earth asteroid for resources, and away you go. I want an automated solar-cell factory on the moon to set up a linear accelerator - then we can get aluminum, iron, and oxygen anywhere we want it.

I don't think that's too far off either. If things keep going the way they are then 30 - 40 years would be my estimate.

I've always pondered if the idea mentioned in the comic Transmetropolitan had merit: cover Mercury in solar panels and use microwave transmissions (and a lot of relays) to beam power to Earth. It's described as "lossy as all hell" (which I think it would be) but it provides more power than the planet will ever need for the foreseeable future.

Again 30 - 40 years and we might have construction drones (because we sure as shiat ain't sending a human) that can take the kind of beating building stuff that close to Sol would dish out.

Vaneshi:FrancoFile: We're not too far off. 3-D printing, teleoperation, hydroponics -- now just get a big chunk of regolith from the moon or a near-earth asteroid for resources, and away you go. I want an automated solar-cell factory on the moon to set up a linear accelerator - then we can get aluminum, iron, and oxygen anywhere we want it.

I don't think that's too far off either. If things keep going the way they are then 30 - 40 years would be my estimate.

I've always pondered if the idea mentioned in the comic Transmetropolitan had merit: cover Mercury in solar panels and use microwave transmissions (and a lot of relays) to beam power to Earth. It's described as "lossy as all hell" (which I think it would be) but it provides more power than the planet will ever need for the foreseeable future.

Again 30 - 40 years and we might have construction drones (because we sure as shiat ain't sending a human) that can take the kind of beating building stuff that close to Sol would dish out.

Why bother with Mercury? We have a big, barren ball just sitting up there a couple days ride by rocket. Stick a rocket in an asymmetrical orbit with the perigee near earth and the apogee by the moon and you'll have easy access with a minimum amount of fuel. Sure Mercury gets more radiation, but the moon still gets plenty, plus there are less temperature extremes and less loss from transmission. In addition, it becomes a lot simpler to send Bruce Willis up there to save us whenever need be.

There's a reason that Lt. Commander Takashima will put an illicit coffee plant in Babylon 5's hydroponics garden in 2257, Lt. Commander Ivanova will inherit said illicit plant, and that Garibadi will look the other way in 2258.

I had a buddy who was a true Timster.Out of necessity on a trip with me, he found himself having to slurp up some McDonald's coffee.He switched after two cups! And he's not the first one I know that's converted.

Duh. It's the special blend of coffee and heroin they use. Seriously, I remember after hurrican Juan the power was off over most of Halifax and surrounding area . There was a 4 block by 4 block section in the downtown that still had power. In that section was a Tim Horton's and the line up for that place was around permanently around the block every hour that it was open for the next 3 days. They only stopped coming because the power started coming back on in other areas. (Power at parents place was off for 6 days.)

AlanSmithee:I had a buddy who was a true Timster.Out of necessity on a trip with me, he found himself having to slurp up some McDonald's coffee.He switched after two cups! And he's not the first one I know that's converted.

/me, don't like coffee much.

I don't know if this is urban legend or what but I heard that the coffee supplier for McDonald's USED to be the coffee supplier for Tim Horton's. I'll drink either but don't really prefer either that much. Used to remember when the apple fritters weren't pre-frozen. Every so often you'd get one that was the size of your head...Great stuff when you're 12!

ReluctantPaladin:I don't know if this is urban legend or what but I heard that the coffee supplier for McDonald's USED to be the coffee supplier for Tim Horton's.

I think Tim Horotns blend their own now. About 20 years ago, I worked in their warehouse for a summer. The coveted Tim Horton's coffee was actually one of three off-the-shelf brands. Mother Parkers was one and I can't remember the other two but they were your average grocery store stuff.